Ganglioside GM1 mimicry in Campylobacter strains from sporadic infections in the United States

To determine whether GM1-like epitopes in Campylobacter species are specifi c to O serotypes associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) or whether t hey are frequent among random Campylobacter isolates causing enteritis, 275 random enteritis-associated isolates of Campylobacter jejuni were analyzed . The isolates were collected in the United States using a cholera toxin-bi nding assay. Overall, 26.2% of the isolates were positive for the GM1-like epitope. Of the 36 different O serotypes in the sample, 21 (58.3%) containe d no strains positive for GM1, whereas in 6 serotypes (16.7%), >50% of isol ates were positive for GM1. GBS-associated serotypes were more likely to co ntain strains positive for GM1 than were non-GBS-associated serotypes (37.8 % vs. 15.1%, P = .0116). The results suggest that humans are frequently exp osed to strains exhibiting GM1-like mimicry and, while certain serotypes ma y be more likely to possess GM1-like epitopes, the presence of GM1-like epi topes on Campylobacter strains does not itself trigger GBS.